RWBY: Land of Monsters
by PatchesTheStoryTeller
Summary: Eons have passed, kingdoms has risen and fallen, and nothing has changed in the eternal battle of Man against Monsters. Humans are divided, and Ozpin grows tired. Until now. Now, things will change. Fate has begun to converge, and this endless war will finally meet its twilight! In this war where man and monster becomes blurry... do not forget about kindness.
1. Fate's Prelude

Fate is an interesting thing. In this world where things can be predicted, where time presents to us a very clear cause and effect, it may seem as though one's path is locked in stone.

This is both not true, and true. One's fate is purely dependent upon chance and opportunity. The impact of one person is exceedingly small. Wealth, power, and influence all fade away when struck by the enormity of the world. How many lives can one touch? How much damage can one do or fix?

However, that forest of infinite choices will be cut down, by the axe of Inevitability. Some things, you just can't stop. Some things, you just have to accept. The game is sometimes rigged, but there's no other choice but to play, so you just have to get used to it.

But that's enough. I shouldn't wax philosophical forever.

Cause and effect is converging, was the consensus.

Time was up. A choice must be made.

Ultimately, such was decided. No more hiding. They'd stored power for 100,000 years. They had nothing to fear. Fight or die.

And so, the paths that had run parallel crossed once again.

A man sat at his desk. He wrote using a splendid fountain pen, upon the best ink in the entire country. He was a parent, a mentor, a king. Alone at the top, with only his children around him. They'd come of age and left home, voyaging in distant lands, out of his view. He longed to see them again, but didn't try to find them, for their lives were now their own.

His latest Child was out. Out in the wilds, hunting.

He finished his letter, and enclosed it in an envelope. All he had to do was send it.

A man sat at his desk. He had received a letter. He set it on his desk, made with some of the best wood and finest craftsmanship in the entire country. He was a parent, a mentor, a king. Alone at the top, with only children around him. They'd come of age and left for the wilds, fighting monsters in places out of his view. He wished for their safety, but he knew their lives were now in their own hands.

Beneath him, his latest children had begun their studies.

He opened the letter, enclosed in an envelope.

He set down his coffee. His hands shook slightly. He hit a button on his desk. Things were now in motion, things he never would've expected.

But it all meant nothing. The things that were in motion were always going to come into motion. It was simply another round in a long game. Whether it was the final round or not was meaningless, as all rounds would come to the same end.

A man and his sister stood at the edge of a cliff.

"I'm tired," the man said.

"You probably would be," his sister replied. "You've been working very hard."

"Not… physically. Just mentally."

"Wondering whether or not you've made the right decisions?"

"Yeah."

"I think you should be more confident. The only person who will know whether or not your decisions were correct is you. Who would know better than you?"

"Someone older than me, more experienced than me."

"That was supposed to be encouraging."

"Sorry."

A boy was packing a suitcase with his few belongings. "The future lies with technology…" He pleasantly hummed while shutting his suitcase.

A girl sat in the warm sun. Her suitcase was already packed. She looked up at the free sky. She raised a hand towards it, and stretched. To be free on that eternal blue…

A boy sat in the dark. Insects and vermin crawled around him. He stuck his tongue out and ran his finger along it.

A girl stood in an endless field. She kneeled at a small grave, and left an apple on it. She turned and walked off, dirt slipping between her bare toes.

A girl gathered herbs in the jungle. She liked the dense forest. It protected her pale skin from the harsh sun.

A boy relaxed in the forest. He could feel a tug on a string. He got up, and got ready to hunt.

Another girl stood still. She stood daftly in the midst of a pack of beasts that she had ripped apart.

Someone was walking along the river. They took out a photograph of a blue haired woman, a red haired man, and a green haired child. They clenched their opposite hand, careful not to bend the photograph.

A girl stood in a snowy field. Black wolves became grey ash upon the white snow. She swung her scythe, marching back towards civilization.

A girl left a club. Destruction was her wake, a cheery smile spreading on her face.

A girl lurked in darkness. She tied her bow, cleansing herself of her past self.

A girl boarded a Bullhead. Bound for a horizon unlike the one she'd known, she carried herself with arrogance and poise.

A girl and a boy traveled together. Always together, they were heading to their new home.

In a field far away, a young boy dreamed of being a knight. He was weak, but desired to be strong.

A girl in a city of marble stood alone. The goddess of victory, alone on her throne, armored in bronze, seeking friends.

Background characters are unneeded! In this cruel world, where humans could not live without fear or suffering, another play would begin. With any hope, it would tell an entertaining tale of people struggling against fate.

Authors Note: I've been trying to write this story for almost 5 years, because it wouldn't die, no matter how much time passed. I've built up a lot of inspiration, and I resolved myself to publish something. So, I've written this story. Please enjoy it, if it suits your tastes.


	2. Bite Back

Ruby was perusing a weapon store. Picking up the latest copy of Weapon Magazine, she gave hushed gasps of amazement as she paged through the magazine. There was a tap on her shoulder.

"Hello?"

There was a blue haired boy standing there. He was a little taller than her, and wore a raincoat. Even though it wasn't raining, he was dripping with water. "Hello. Are you… familiar with this place?" He spoke a little awkwardly, but his smile radiated friendliness.

"Familiar? With the shop?" He nodded furiously. A few drops of water sprayed around. "Umm… yes? Is there something you need help with?"

"Dust."

"Like… what about Dust?"

"What kind is good?"

"Good? For what?"

He tilted his head in confusion. "I want to know. What Dust is good."

"...I don't know what you want…"

"I see. Thank you for your time."

He left, turning out the store.

It was an odd event, but it didn't stand out too much to her in the long run.

Other odd events happened here and there too, but it was nothing different. Just part of normal life at Beacon. Today, there was sparring class.

It was Yang… facing against some blonde girl. Her name and face just didn't really register in Ruby's mind. Yang was saying something to her opponent, but her opponent didn't respond. Ruby sort of dazed off.

There was a sudden blast of loud noise, the meaty thud of someone's back hitting the ground.

"What the fuck?!" Yang shouted. Ruby snapped to attention, as did everyone else in the stands.

The blonde girl was standing over Yang. There was a pretty noticeable red mark on Yang's face. Yang leapt to her feet, reverting to a fighting stance.

"What… what just happened?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know," Blake said. "I… I wasn't paying attention."

Yang threw a punch. And then she was on the ground again. Her Aura had dropped even more and this time, her arm hurt. _Alright, so she had some kind of weird Semblance that caused you to black out for a second_, Yang concluded. _How do I get around that… _Yang leapt away, getting a running start.

"Alright!" She launched herself forward with Ember Celica, winding up to throw a punch- And she was slammed onto the ground like yesterday's laundry with a clothesline.

"Your senses are sharp," the other girl commented. "You wake up as soon as you realize I've touched you." She said it in a matter of factly way, like pointing out the sky was blue or that grass was green.

"So your Semblance has something to do with my senses?" Yang asked.

"My… My… Semblance…" The other girl's eyes became cloudy.

"...Are you alright?"

"..." The other girl didn't respond.

"Is she okay?" Yang asked Glynda. Glynda rubbed her chin. She wasn't entirely sure what to do.

"Given that her team hasn't asked for a forfeit on her behalf… I'm assuming this is fine… She doesn't seem to be experiencing major fluctuations in her vital signs… and her Aura is stable."

"...So, what do I do?"

"You can punch her, if you dare!" A voice cried out from the audience. A rabbit faunus that Ruby had never seen before was sitting there. She was scarily pale, and had bright red eyes.

"Who are you?"

"One of her teammates."

"Is this normal?"

"For her, it is."

"So… I can just go ahead and punch her?"

"If you dare. I'd recommend forfeiting. You hit a bad button."

"Well, I don't feel like forfeiting!" Yang rushed the other blonde girl, slamming a punch into her jaw. She bent backwards, a full 180 degrees, her head scraping the floor. Yang's eyes widened with surprise for a brief instant, before the girl suddenly unwound, smashing her forehead into Yang's. Yang recoiled, but caught a punch in the gut, doubling her over. A throat punch, a round house kick, a hand wrapping around the back of her neck. The cruel battery began, as she began pummeling Yang's gut with punches.

"This match is over!" Glynda shouted, her voice full of panic. Ruby saw it, a pool of red starting to build underneath Yang.

A chain launched out of the stands, wrapping around the other girl's neck, tearing her off of Yang. It wriggled as though alive, and the owner leapt out of the stands, stomping on top of the other girl. She locked her in a choke hold, pinning her down. Her bloodied hands scrabbled at the arms around her neck, but they gradually weakened and fell still.

"You're a real handful…" She leapt out of the ring in a single bound, dragging the unconscious girl behind her, throwing her onto the albino rabbit faunus' lap. "Deal with her."

"Right away," the rabbit replied, carrying the unconscious girl out of the classroom.

Yang lay on the ground, doubled over, her hands covering her wounds. A countless number of puncture wounds dotted her stomach, spilling blood.

Class was dismissed, on that note.

"What the hell was that…" Yang murmured from her hospital bed in the nurse's office. Her Aura was rapidly healing the wounds, but it was still painful.

"Yang, what happened in that match?"

"I don't know. Every time I attacked her, I'd suddenly get countered… I don't know what happened… It was like time suddenly skipped forward."

"A Semblance that controls time?"

"That's dumb. I think her Semblance disturbs your senses… But that doesn't explain this…" She gestured to her belly. "

"Right… was your barrier up the whole time?"

"Maxed out. But she got through…"

"These are puncture wounds… did she use a knife?"

"Nope... It was just her fist… but every time she hit me, it was like she was driving a nail into my belly. Damnit… who the hell was she?"

"We'll find out," Blake said. "That kind of brutality can't be allowed!"

"You want to know who was matched against Yang?" Glynda Goodwitch asked.

"Yeah. I just… kinda wanted to get to know them better!" Ruby mumbled out.

"I see… Then I don't suppose you're after revenge or anything."

"No… we're not…"

"...Come to think of it, they probably wouldn't mind," Glynda murmured. "Listen… those girls were transfer students. They have a bit of a situation, circumstances that make them a little bit of a special case. While that girl technically did not break the rules, she violated the spirit of them. Please tell them that they had better learn to restrain themselves more, or their time here at the school is in jeopardy."

"Okay, we'll pass it on. But… who is she?"

"Her name is Rue Öinen. You can find the rest of her information on the student portal."

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch."

"So, who is she?" Yang asked abruptly, ambushing Ruby as she left the room.

"Don't you have to heal?"

"Puncture wounds seal up quickly… I can walk around while I heal the rest. So. Who is she?"

"Her name is… Rue Oi- oh ah- Woi-nen…? How do you pronounce this?"

"It's Öinen," Weiss jabbed. "Still, I wouldn't have expected that. That's not exactly a common name."

"Really?"

"In remote areas of Mantle, their alphabets are slightly different."

"Oh, so we're dealing with someone from Atlas? Huh, who would've thought it?"

"..." Blake was silent.

"Huh? Blake? Did you find something?"

"I looked up Rue on the student portal." Blake turned around her Scroll.

Rue Öinen.

Age: 17

Nationality: N/A

Eyes: Green

Hair: Blonde

Status: Enrolled, Transfer Student

School of Origin: N/A

Semblance: Unrecorded.

A mugshot of a girl with blonde hair and green eyes sat on the virtual page. She stared straight forward at the camera. Her eyes were unfocused, not looking at anything in particular, though her pupils had shrunk immensely under the flash of the camera.

"School of Origin… Not applicable? Not available?"

"Even if she was from a civilian school, it would be listed…"

"Isn't Nationality N/A more important here?"

"True. Even if she was from some independent colony that got destroyed, you don't just go directly to Beacon."

"...Shouldn't we ask a professor about this?"

"Well, Glynda seemed to know, but I think class is about to start again…"

"Oh, yeah… I heard she has a lot of stuff to grade…"

"Who do we know who has lots of free time, but also would know more about Rue Öinen?"

"I see… so you've come to me about the matter of Miss Öinen." Ozpin set down his pen. "I do know about her, so ask away as you please." He extended his hand towards Ruby.

"Oh… well, am I bothering you right now?"

"Well, I've always got some time to spare for my students. You wanted to know about Rue Öinen, correct?"

"Well, yes."

"Rue Öinen is a transfer student who came here under the advocation of… an old acquaintance of mine. I'm sure that she herself can explain better to you, but she comes from a place that doesn't exist on any map or globe. She comes from the hidden kingdom of Metaxeos… though it's sometimes called Yaoguai or Arcadia."

"Hidden kingdom?"

"Hmmm… a good analogy I suppose would be Shangri-la. A country hidden away from the world."

"A country hidden away from the world…"

"I've never been there myself, but I received a letter from my friend. He wanted to send eight children to this school. I… found it difficult to decline."

"Difficult to decline?"

"Do you remember when I mentioned my… past mistakes, Miss Rose? I must admit that… that acquaintance and I were… enemies long ago. However, I realize that our… differences were the product of misunderstandings and other such issues."

"Your… enemy? But you're one of the greatest Hunters to have ever lived!"

"Indeed… and he was every bit my equal, even surpassing me in some regards. With time, I realize now that… if I want to protect people, I need to take his hand, and I've begun by taking in his children."

"Wait, then your acquaintance is…"

"He is the current King of Metaxeos. The King of Monsters, Providence."

On that ominous note, Ruby was given a one-time keycard and a warning to loudly declare that she was entering before entering the room. The room of team HRRR, pronounced Horror. Geez, that didn't make her feel any better about going in. She stood in front of the door. There was a chunk cut out of the wallpaper where the previous plaque had been cut out and the new plaque labelling this as the room of Team HRRR stuck to the wall.

"Dang… what a creepy place. They have a room in the basement?" Yang murmured. In order to get to the "dorm room" of Team HRRR, you had to go into the basement. Apparently, their room used to be a laundry room, but water damage left most of the machines defunct, and a new laundry facility was constructed specifically for laundry.

"Is anyone else getting the creeps?" Weiss asked.

"No, you're not the only one. It's like my body's screaming at me not to open this door," Blake said. The steam pipes from the nearby boiler kept the room very warm, but all of them were still shivering.

"Ahem… WE'RE COMING IN!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs before swiping the keycard. The lock clicked open. Ruby set a hand on the door knob. Despite the warm and humid room, the door knob felt as cold as ice. She shrugged off the feeling of oppressive terror and pushed into the room.

It was completely dark. Ruby grasped for a lightswitch, only to rest her hand on overgrown ivy. Blake gasped a little.

"Guys…" Blake turned on her Scroll's flashlight. Flicking it around the room a few things could be seen. A mattress was hanging on a hammock of cobwebs close to the pipes on the ceiling. Out of an open window, ivy was growing into the room rapidly, forming a natural tent over another mattress. Yet another mattress sat right up against a wall.

Discarded mattress frames were piled into a small fort near the door.

"Hello?" Ruby called out.

There was no response. Weiss suddenly yelped as she was yanked up into the air. There was someone by the ceiling, holding Weiss in front of them like a human shield.

"Who are you?" The voice asked. It was a voice dripping with venom, an open threat. It dodged the light, crawling across the walls rapidly as she swung it around.

"We're Team RWBY! Please let Weiss go!" Ruby shouted panickedly.

"Why are you here?" The voice shot back from the darkness.

"We wanted to meet Team HRRR." Weiss hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"The others aren't here right now. I am alone here."

"Listen, I don't know how shit goes down in Metaxeos, but you don't just start a conversation by taking a hostage!" Yang yelled. "Get out of the fucking shadows, so I can beat some sense into you!"

"Beat? Me?" The voice echoed. The venom had vanished. It came in an instant. Blake was the only one who saw, shoving Yang aside as a the figure slammed down, a metal blade embedding itself into the floor where Yang stood. It kicked off, vanishing back into the tangle of pipes.

"We have to get out of here!" Blake shouted. Everyone rushed out of the door, slamming it. A metal blade slammed itself through the wood of the door, splinters flying. There was the noise of shuffling, before it got quiet again.

"Who was that?" Ruby gasped.

"I don't know. He used Weiss as a shield, so I couldn't get a good look at his face… but he was crawling on the walls like a spider. But he was human. He wasn't a Faunus. Just a really weird human," Blake answered.

They retreated from that door. The person behind the door was definitely going to hurt them if they tried to invade again.

"On Team HRRR… there's actually only one male member. That narrows it down a lot. Kandata Hahava. The leader of Team HRRR… Just like Rue, there's almost no information on him in the system," Blake said. "Which means that the person who threatened us was Kandata."

"Shouldn't we report this?"

"I did. But... they've got some kind of special circumstances. Apparently, it was our fault for riling him up."

"Riling him up? He's the one who took Weiss hostage!"

"He doesn't respond well to threats, is what I heard. He didn't attack until you said you'd beat him up for taking Weiss hostage."

"What, so he immediately attacks before he's attacked?"

"Maybe… He reminds me a little bit of…" Blake was lost in thought.

"Wake wakey, blakey?" Yang said, snapping her fingers in front of Blake's face. Blake snapped back into it.

"Sorry. I was thinking about someone else."

"Maybe we should find some of the other members of HRRR. Maybe they won't attack us on sight."

"We have a couple of options then. First is Rue. She's hard to find, because despite her perfect attendance record, she doesn't go to any of her classes."

"Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"No, she goes to class, registers into the system, and then just… disappears. There's only about a gap of 1 minute to actually talk to her before she vanishes."

"You're really getting into this, huh, Blake."

"I am?"

"Yeah, you've been gathering data nonstop since we found out about them."

"Sorry… I guess it might just be in my nature."

"It's fine."

"Anyway, the other two members are Lacie Rubenia and Flo Roy. Lacie is a rabbit faunus, and doesn't interact much with others. She avoids direct sunlight, because she seems to be an albino… Flo is a human… or at least she looks like she is. I don't know why, but I always get weird vibes, like I'm not actually looking at a real person. Both of them don't talk much. It seems that the entire team is isolated on campus."

"So where can we catch them?"

"They only really sit still during class. The moment class ends, they vanish into the crowds… It's like a magic trick."

"Then all we have to do is figure out how it works, right?" Yang smiled.

"Isn't there also the option of challenging them to a fight in sparring class? If they get called down, we can use that time to talk to them."

"...True, that would also work."

"Alright. Now who's challenging one of them to a fight?"

"I'll do it," Weiss volunteered. "Yang's in no condition to fight against anyone right now..."

"Challenging me... " Lacie stood at attention and made her way down into the arena, hopping over the railing.

"Do you need to retrieve any weapons?" Glynda asked.

"I don't use weapons," Lacie replied. "I already have my teeth."

"No weapons…" Weiss murmured. "Mind if I ask you some questions?"

"You may," Lacie replied.

"What's the deal with your team?"

"That's classified."

"You won't tell me?"

"I'll tell you this. In Arcadia, strength rules."

"So, what you're saying is, if I beat you, you'll tell me."

"Yes."

"I see…"

"Well, if you're both ready, you may begin!"

Lacie shot first, leaping across the arena with astounding speed, slamming a fist into Weiss's chest. The blow was unbelievably heavy, slamming Weiss's right knee into the ground. Her Aura held, but it was a devastating blow from the outset, tearing an eight of Weiss's aura off immediately. There was no blood this time. Weiss leapt up to her feet, facing Lacie.

She snapped a stab, but Lacie had already bounded away, screeching to a halt on the opposite side of the ring.

"Primitive," Lacie commented.

"What?" Lacie didn't respond, instead darting back for another attack. Weiss's glyph bloomed, and she shot forward. Myrtenaster pierced through Lacie's face with no resistance. Weiss had only a moment of surprise before a knee slammed into her chin. Her eyes rolled back into her skull, before they suddenly snapped back.

Weiss broke away from Lacie, rubbing her chin. _She gave me a concussion! I almost lost consciousness… but how? My Aura was protecting me!_ She took her hand off her chin. It was red. There was a hole in her chin, gushing blood. _A puncture wound… it's the same as what happened to Yang… She can pierce through Aura barriers._

"Mind if I ask you what you did just now? How you were able to pierce my barrier?"

"Simple. My Teeth are stronger than your barrier."

"Teeth?" Weiss paused. "I'm assuming you don't mean the teeth in your mouth."

"Very perceptive of you. But the rest is classified information."

"So I'll have to beat you to find out…" Weiss inhaled, redonning her stance. _If she hits me, it'll pierce through my barrier… I don't know enough about how it works to figure out a countermeasure._

Weiss was snapped out of her reverie by a set of knuckles in front of her eyes. Pow! There was the sound of a heavy, meaty and hard thud as the fist smashed into Weiss' skull. Blood began to spill from her forehead like a fountain. Weiss' glyphs bloomed, dragging her away from the situation.

"It's like time skipped forward," Weiss gasped. "But that shouldn't be possible… They have the exact same Semblance?" Weiss thought… Something was different.

"You don't have time to consider what I'm doing." A punch straight to the throat rang out. More blood spilled from her head wound.

"I'm calling this-" "Wait!" Weiss shouted. "I think I can figure out what she's doing!"

"You're bleeding from your head!"

"You should listen to your teacher."

"I'm not giving up because I'm bleeding a little!"

"...At the very least, I'll acknowledge your spirit to keep fighting even when you're hopelessly outmatched. However, that's not courage, that's recklessness. So, I'll take you down with this attack."

Weiss reflexively bent backwards, avoiding a whirlwind kick. There was zero time lag. It was like Lacie suddenly teleported across the ring.

"I figured it out! You're not skipping time or anything like that! It's just an illusion!"

"Yes. It's merely a reverie. But the most dangerous part about dreaming is that you don't know what's real anymore."

"I'll pierce through you!" Weiss shouted, readying her stance. She leapt towards Lacie, locking her in place with a black glyph. Lacie parried the stab with her bare hands, knocking it away. Weiss launched into a flurry of stabs. She was getting tired, weaker, but Lacie's hands kept parrying the steel. Suddenly, her surroundings became black.

"Huh?!" Weiss woke up in her seat. There was a bandage on her forehead and chin.

"Weiss! You're awake!" Ruby shouted.

"What? What happened… I was fighting her and…"

"Do you not remember?"

"What happened?"

"She walked up to you right at the end and just started choking you. You let go of Myrtenaster and she just choked you out."

"She… choked me? But I was trying to stab her when I passed out…"

"Wait!" Weiss shouted at Lacie as Lacie left the room.

"So it didn't work this time…" Lacie spun around. "What is it?"

"What happened at the end of that match?"

"Exactly what you saw. I choked you until you passed out. Now, let me go." Lacie walked into the crowd of students leaving and immediately vanished, like a magic trick. Unable to find her again, or her teammates… they were forced to abandon the search.

"What happened during that match?" Ruby asked.

"...I realized what her Semblance was. It's a Semblance that lets her create illusions."

"Illusions?"

"I think… right at the end, she caught me in an illusion where I couldn't tell I was being choked," Weiss said. "Moreover… she called the Aura piercing attack "Teeth"."

"Teeth?"

"Yeah… I don't know how it's done, or what it is, but it's seriously dangerous. I think she missed my vitals on purpose… but if she tried, she probably would've…" Weiss got silent. "Killed me." The room got a little more grim after that.

"At least we know more about them… And why they're able to draw blood even through an Aura barrier…" Blake's voice wasn't very confident. But that was fine. All progress is bit by bit. So, bit by bit, they'd have to unravel the mystery of the transfer students…

Authors Note: As you might've been able to tell, there's a lot of different other fictional media being referenced in this. Did you figure out what I was referencing? Well, in any case, see you next time.


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